AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) Director Acquires $201,404.50 in Stock

AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) Director W Marston Becker purchased 3,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $66.58 per share, for a total transaction of $201,404.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 21,821 shares in the company, valued at $1,452,842.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

AXIS Capital Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of AXS stock traded up $1.01 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $69.82. The company had a trading volume of 749,798 shares, compared to its average volume of 647,181. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.62. AXIS Capital Holdings Limited has a twelve month low of $51.61 and a twelve month high of $69.96. The company has a market capitalization of $5.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.80. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.88.

AXIS Capital (NYSE:AXS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The insurance provider reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.17. AXIS Capital had a return on equity of 19.11% and a net margin of 10.34%. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.33 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AXIS Capital Holdings Limited will post 10.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AXIS Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.52%. AXIS Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.91%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AXIS Capital

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in AXIS Capital by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,707,110 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $482,113,000 after purchasing an additional 75,085 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in AXIS Capital by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,788,802 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $209,785,000 after purchasing an additional 27,750 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in AXIS Capital by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,976,903 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $167,808,000 after purchasing an additional 72,913 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in AXIS Capital by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,776,551 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $100,144,000 after purchasing an additional 16,031 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in AXIS Capital by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,246,288 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $81,034,000 after purchasing an additional 20,746 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AXS shares. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of AXIS Capital from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AXIS Capital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of AXIS Capital from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on AXIS Capital from $59.00 to $57.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.33.

AXIS Capital Company Profile

AXIS Capital Holdings Limited, through its subsidiaries, provides various specialty insurance and reinsurance products in Bermuda, the United States, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Insurance and Reinsurance. The Insurance segment offers professional insurance products that cover directors' and officers' liability, errors and omissions, employment practices, fiduciary, crime, professional indemnity, medical malpractice, and other financial insurance related coverages for commercial enterprises, financial institutions, not-for-profit organizations, and other professional service providers; and property insurance products for commercial buildings, residential premises, construction projects, property in transit, onshore renewable energy installations, and physical damage and business interruption following an act of terrorism.